MPs on the committee chaired by Soroti district Woman Member of Parliament, Angeline Ossege, while meeting the officials from the ministry of public service led by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Catherine Musingwire, discovered this  through the Auditor general’s report  for the financial year 2013/14  that a total of 19,135 pensioners who had attained the maximum pensionable period of 15 years were still on the ministry of public service payroll and earning monthly pension yet they had not furnished the ministry with life certificates.

Member of Parliament for Ntungamo district, Gerald Karuhanga

MPs who included the Member of Parliament for Ntungamo district, Gerald Karuhanga and Angelline Ossege wondered whether all the pensioners paid were still alive suspecting that there could have been ghosts who benefited.

MPs queried the officials especially the Director Human Resource, Aidah Muwanga Kabarokole and the assistant commissioner in charge of compensation, Victor Buwaleka, on what stopped them from verifying for the right pensioners using the life certificates before effecting payments.

Masaka Municipality MP, Mathius Mpuuga among the MPs.

The Member of Parliament for Masaka Municipality, Matthias Mpuuga, was angry over this questionable payment to suspicious ghost pensioners when the right pensioners are frequently made to go to the pension office to be paid.

While responding to MP’s concerns over the suspicious ghost pensioner’s payment, Kabarokole, said that though MPs are suspecting payment to ghost pensioners but the ministry conducted the payment using available proper records.

MPs told the ministry of public to avail the list of life certificates they claim to have used to effect this doubtful pension to pensioners.

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Former principal accountant with Ministry of Public Service Christopher Obey

The former principal accountant with Ministry of Public Service Christopher Obey has been handed over to   police CID at parliament by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over failure to account for 155 billion shillings which was allegedly paid to ghost pensioners. Obey was detained on orders of PAC chaired by the woman MP for Serere county, Alice Alaso, after they discovered that Mr. obey did not hand over the files of the names ,he based on to pay ghost pensioners to the pension service registry.

The senior Records officer Pensions Registry with the Ministry of Public Service Doreen Onyango pinned Obey before the committee that he did not hand in alleged ghost files to registry as normal practice which caused 2434 pensioners to miss their pension payments from 2009 to 2011. Onyango told the committee she used a computer system and physically searched for the files used to clear ghost pension but did not exist though Mr. Obey was insisting that he handed over the files to registry.

Members of Parliament said that they are convinced Mr. Obey is liable for payment of ghost pensioners because he was the only one who authorized and created ghost file names of pensioners

At the beginning of the committee proceedings Christopher Obey failed to stop his interrogation over the payment of ghost pensioners. Obey had asked the committee to stop the proceedings saying that the same case was in court and his answer to the committee will compromise his defence in court. He said that the people who sued him are taking advantage of the committee hearings and will use his answers to defeat him in court.

However  MPs including Alice Alaso, Gerald Karuhanga, Martin Muzale and Emma Boona said that obey is just using the case as an excuse to stop the proceedings which the committee will not do. They say court has not yet set the date and time for hearing the case and therefore as the committee they know that what they are doing is not sub judicial to the courts. They said that unless the attorney general writes to the committee they will not stop the proceedings.

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Former principal accountant in Ministry of Public Service Christopher Obey has refused to refund money which he allegedly stole belonging to pensioners. Obey appeared before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) today chaired by Alice Alaso to defend himself over his alleged forgery of files purportedly belonging to former workers of EAC [pensioners] and paid shs165bn. The purported pensioners were 2434 in total and the committee discovered that they were all fictitious.

The committee put it to him that he was the very person who generated the ghost files for these fake pensioners with assistance from Peter Ssajjabbi who claimed to be the secretary general of the EAC pensioners numbering 2434. However he claimed that the files originated from pensions registry though he couldn’t name the person who gave them to him.

The committee asked him to save its time and refund the loot but he said he cannot refund money which he claims he never took. The committee is meeting him again tomorrow Thursday over the same shs165bn theft scandal of pensioners’ money.

In another twist, a renown   City lawyer, John Matovu, says lawyer Bob Kasango may not pay the 7.8 billion shillings he promised to refund because he is bankrupt. This came after lawyer Kasango was forced by the committee to refund this money which was part of the 15.4 billion paid to an alleged ghost law firm.

Matovu told the committee chaired by Alice Alaso that lawyer Kasango is totally broke and there is nothing under his name. He told Members of Parliament that they should be careful because the bank statement tabled before committee by Kasango could be a forged one. Matovu told the committee that Kasango is a devil lawyer who conned him of 12 billion shillings which could have come to him from government under the agreement he had with him. He said that Kasango’s accounts had zero balance on the several times he checked and doubts that he will get the funds to pay back. Matovu said that he has been hunting Kasango through police and court summons since October last year and failed to trap him.

He pinned Kasango for using fake documents purported to be from Matovu’s lawyer firm and procured pension money irregularly. Matovu told the public accounts committee that the order Kasango used to get 7.8 billion shillings was illegal. He however, confirmed to the committee that about 6339 pensioners were paid their pension out of the 15.4 billion shillings.

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However, the Auditor General officials who attended the proceedings queried the role of Mr. Stephen Kunsa in this office if he failed to detect such a scam where about 7500 dead pensioners were still on payroll. Mr. Kunsa who had served with the Ministry for 34 years also named the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Major General Severino Kahinda Otafire, in another 15 billion shillings ghost payment and MPs said that Otafire will be invited over after examining the witness submission.

Kunsa said that Otafire wrote to the Ministry ordering them to release this fund to a ghost law firm known as Hul and partners. In the same vain Mr. Kunsa faced it rough when the Head of Planning in the Ministry of Public Service, Moses Tegyeza, also pinned him on the authorizing of 88 billion shillings as NSSF contribution yet the law exempts public servants from NSSF contribution.

The committee instructed the police CID to fish out the suspected officials in the Ministry of Public Service who failed to appear before the Committee despite of the summons sent to them last week.

Among the needed officials are the former Permanent Secretary Jimmy Rwamafa, Christopher Obey and JJ Nansera.

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The summoned officials include the former Permanent Secretary Jimmy Lwamafa, the Ministry’s registrar Jennifer Atoo, former head of the department of Compensation Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa, former Principal Accountant Obe Christopher, former Commissioner Human Resource JJ Nansera, and Wycliffe Mugume working in the Ministry of Health now, among others.

Members of Parliament detected that Mar. JJ Nansera approved the ghost payment without verification from the audit department. They noted that on several transactions the ministry officials irregularly paid ghost pensioners and left out the genuine ones. MPs noted that the ministry paid 165 billion shillings to ghost pensioners; this case against the accused taken to court was dismissed due to lack of evidence and the suspects are now pleading the ministry to lift the interdiction and resume work.

The PS Muwanga told the committee that she was surprised that there was such a case and added that up to now she has got no proof this money was lost. MPs also learnt that 88.8 billion shillings was irregularly budgeted for as contribution to social security in the financial year 2011/12 and caused parliament to approve this alleged ghost payment.

The committee further observed that the Ministry of Public Service paid 15 billion shillings to HUL AND PARTNERS, which is stated as a law firm, and this was done with approval from the Attorney. In this case MPs noted that this ghost law firm had asked for 12 billion shillings in respect to damages to ghost pensioners due to delays in their payment but was given15 billion shillings yet its location was not known and the Uganda Law Society could not trace its existence.

Members of Parliaments were surprised that this law firm was irregularly paid by the Ministry of Public Service and it did not go to court. The MPs who include Alice Alaso, Gerald Karuhanga, Theodore Sekikubo, Emmanuel Dombo, Paul Mwiru and Jacob Apolot said that the summoned officials should appear before the committee as the committee begins fresh investigations into this pension scam. They were furious that people retire at 60 years, live miserable lives after retirement and die without getting their pension and those still alive get it after more than 20 years. The fresh investigations into the matter will kick off next week with the summoned officials.

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This has angered Members of parliament on public service and local government committee who today ordered the ministry of public service to secure the land quickly from the Uganda land commission to kick start the establishment of the civil service college.

The committee members chaired by the woman mp for kalungu district Florence kintu learnt that the Uganda land commission had not allocated the land for the set up of this civil servant training college which is funded by the World Bank to the tune of 4.5 million dollars.

The committee meeting today noted  that the project loan fund was released in 2008  to establish the civil service college but the money is still in bank of Uganda and its remaining with only two and half years to expire because the project  fund is for five years.

The MPs even discovered that the proposed land to the project in Jinja had been allocated to other people and the government has to first compensate these people so that the land is secured for the project.

Kintu told the ministry of public services officials who were led by the minister of public service Henry Muganwa Kajura to bring to the committee the land offer letter to  parliament within two weeks  to satisfy the mps that the project is kicking off to benefit the civil servants.

Ultimate Media

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The Assistant commissioner Human resources management Gorrette Sendiyona said IPPS is an enterprise widely integrated, computerized and efficient human resource management information system that will be used by ministries and government departments.

Mrs. Sendiyona says the system will help government to manage the public human resource information more efficiently and effectively.

She said it will help strengthen accountability and control by improving the management of public service work force and enhance payroll and pension controls.

Sendiyona said the IPPS is being implemented in phase and the first phase the pilot phase that is already on going in the ministries of health, finance and education plus a few local government districts of Jinja and Lira and the 2nd phase, the system will be rolled out to other Areas.

By Mugisa Isaac Mathias

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